877 apologia for his departure from the order of pious schools 3. I went to Rome in the most unpleasant season,89 enduring many hardships and dangers to my life, armed only with the will to obey my Superiors, “through bullets and through water,” I burst into the Holy City.90 I was compelled to remain at the gate, which I remember was the Flaminia [Gate]. I was detained and harassed there for a long time. At dusk, after giving the soldier some money, I was led to the [church of ] St. Pantaleon.91 4. Here was the next stop, because the General, unexpectedly made aware of my arrival, ordered me to remain at the door for almost a quarter of an hour. I suppose that he had intended to consult beforehand with his Assistants as to how to receive such a poor and miserable man, until such time that I, stirred by the unusual nature of this event, magnanimously stated that I would go to some inn, unless at the order of the General himself I was to be received in a different manner. 5. I suppose that this was reported to him. I was thus kindly received, finally shown hospitality with the greatest affection for a few weeks. When I inquired as to the cause for my being summoned [here] from the Province, I heard that I had been denounced before this same General by my Superiors as a firebrand of the Province. I demanded a trial, as I was willing even to go to the Holy Inquisition, if the precise date and place for it were not given. I presented my case. I was acquitted, and I received the order to return to the Province. Everything seemed to lean toward a happy ending, if a little packet92 had not come flying from Poland which ruffled everything and disturbed me, turned the General hostile to me, [such that] instead of proceeding to 89 Father Papczyński began his journey to Rome at the end of October 1667. 90 Father Papczyński probably reached Rome at the end of December 1667. Cf. Positio, pp. 102-103. 91 This church was given to the Piarists permanently in 1614. The house of the General Curia of the Piarists was annexed to it in 1612, and hence it was called the House of St. Pantaleon. Cf. SH, p. 40, n. 35. 92 This “little packet” contained the Acta Capituli Provincialis sent to Rome from the Provincial Chapter held in Podoliniec (November 7-12, 1667). In them, Fr. Papczyński was formally accused of provoking disturbance in the Warsaw House and of being the “troublemaker of the Province”; for which it was requested that he be punished by the General and his Assistants. Cf. SH, p. 41, n. 39.
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